We Will Never Forget....

I've heard people say that the bombing of the World Trade Center is the "where were you when JFK was shot?" of my generation and I think that may be true. It is probably the single most tragic event that has happened in my lifetime.


I'm not any different in this respect. I remember where I was, what I was doing like it was yesterday, not 10 years ago. I was 12 weeks pregnant with Tucker and working in a nursing home in Mystic. I was in my office when I heard one of the nurse's aides say "someone hit the world trade center!" and we all went rushing into one of the resident's rooms to watch it on TV. There was a lot of confusion about whether someone could just hit that building by mistake or whether they did it on purpose...then the second plane hit and all doubt was erased. And it got really quiet in the room (there were probably about 8 of us in there). I remember placing my hand on my stomach wondering what kind of world I was bringing a child into.


Not much work got done that morning, or for that matter, that day as we wandered around "did you hear?" was heard throughout the hallways. I called my husband who worked in a liquor store across the street at the time and he had already heard. I remember one of the nurse's aides, Ellie, had gone into the city for the day and her sister who also worked at the facility was in a panic. She didn't have a cell phone and we had to wait for her to somehow contact someone in her family.

I remember the Pentagon getting hit and thinking, as the newsman announced it, that they better be sure it was really the planes and not construction. I remember the look on the president's face as he got the news as he was reading to a group of schoolchildren. I remember watching the first tower fall and then a voice of horror yelling "the second tower's falling" and running into the room to watch, teary-eyed and horrified by what I was seeing.

So do I think it is equivalent to JFK being shot in terms of its' effect on my generation. Without a doubt. We sincerely mean it when we say "we will never forget".